Zhang, S; Loosemore, M; Sunindijo, R Y and Gu, D (2023) An investigation of safety climate in Chinese major construction projects. International Journal of Construction Management, 23(8), pp. 1365-1375. ISSN 1562-3599
Abstract
Safety performance in the Chinese construction projects remains poor in comparison to other developed countries. While a considerable body of research has accumulated to explain why accident and incident rates remain high in China, research into safety climate in Chinese major construction projects remains scant. To address this gap in knowledge, a survey of 189 construction professionals across five major construction projects in China was undertaken using a validated safety climate framework. Follow-up interviews were also conducted with nine senior construction safety professionals to verify the survey analysis results. The findings indicate that safety climate in major construction projects in China is perceived to be strong, and management commitment appears to be the underlying factor to promote this positive result. Safety rules and procedures is a dimension that requires attention because of their complexity and competing interests during their implementation. All the dimensions of the safety climate are strongly interrelated, indicating that multidimensional and holistic strategies should be employed to improve safety climate in major construction projects. This research enriches the understanding about the characteristics of safety climate in Chinese major construction projects and the effective measures which can be taken to further enhance the safety performance on these projects.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | China; construction projects; safety climate; safety performance |
| Index terms: | investigation, construction professional, dimension, implementation, safety climate, interview, survey, strategy, commitment, developed country, construction project, complexity, safety performance, construction safety, China |
| Subjects: | occupational health and safety management, systems engineering, environmental health, management, health safety and environment, Geography, production management, development economics, professional development, psychology, contractual arrangements, health monitoring assessment and metrics, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, International Construction, Sustainability, Procurement, Health and Safety, Business Strategy, Engineering Principles, Information Management, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here